The chairman of the U.S. bishops’ pro-life committee has praised the National Institute of Health (NIH) for its decision to withhold funds from 13 of 14 research proposals that involved the use of fetal tissue.

Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann of Kansas City, Kansas, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Pro-Life Activities, said the bishops applaud the Trump administration “for moving NIH in a direction that shows greater consideration for medical ethics in research, and greater respect for innocent human life.”

“It is neither ethical nor necessary to further violate the bodies of aborted babies by commodifying them for use in medical research,” he said in a statement. “The victims of abortion deserve the same respect as every other human person. We are grateful that the administration is following through on its commitment to end federal funding of research using aborted fetal tissue.”

In a separate statement, he praised the Trump Administration’s “Mexico City Policy” for ensuring that U.S. development aid “actually promotes health and human rights, and doesn’t undermine them by promoting abortion”.